RBI cautions against fictitious offers of cheap fund

Shimla : The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) today cautioned the general public against fictitious offers of cheap funds from abroad, often in form of lottery prizes money, through letters, e-mails and SMS. While addressing a press conference here, Officer-in-charge of the RBI, Shimla branch R Gurumurthi said that the apex Bank was creating awareness campaign about the crime in the country. He informed that many complaints were pouring from different quarters with RBI that fraudulent communications offers form individual and trusts were being made with people alluring them for lottery winnings or remittance of funds in foreign currency from abroad or employment or scholarships which are perpetrated by certain residents and non residents. He said factious offers are generally made through letters, e-mail, and mobile phones and SMS. Apart from the typical modalities adopted in the past, the fraudsters are now resorting to issue of certificates, letters and circulars which are sent through e-mail on letterheads that look like that of Reserve Bank and purportedly signed by its top executives or seniors officials to make them appear as genuine. The fraudsters also convince the victims by impersonating as senior officials of the RBI with telephones numbers and factious e-mail Ids. Many residents fell prey to such teasing offers and lost large sums money in the process. Advising people not become pray of any such call, Mr Gurumurit informed that a case has come before RBI from Himachal Pradesh belong to Rampur area of this district as a person complaint that after depositing Rs 30 lakh in similar allurement for getting Rs 4 crore, he lost his deposit after becoming prey of crime. He cautioned the people that getting any offers from foreign and accepting it is crime under FEMA and people should not fall in any such trap while such fictitious offers are coming in rampant leaving victims hapless. Replying to a question he said after becoming victim of such offer people normally did not report or complaints to RBI and other government agencies as under law they themselves become part of crime after accepting the offer to such call and their indulgence and implications in the crime keep complaint mum.  The crime is flourishing due to lack of whistleblower as victim themselves get trap in the web of crime and threat of law forced the victim to bear the consequence on their own.

http://www.newkerala.com/news/2011/worldnews-73841.html 

Minted In A Sepia Tone



Money talks

Then finance secretary Manmohan Singh with RBI Governor I.G. Patel



Who isn’t fascinated by money? When a new ten-rupee coin is released, we keep turning it in our fingers to see if it feels right, there is heated debate about its design, size and look. Or when a much-loved denomination like the 25 paise is phased out, there is a perceptible collective sigh, and in some rural pockets, sheer dismay. Why won’t shopkeepers in the cities accept the 50-paise coin though it’s still official currency, people wonder. The rupee, of course, touches us all and the Mint Road Milestones—marking the creator of the rupee, the Reserve Bank of India’s, 75th anniversary—is an exhibition that captures the currency’s fascinating journey. In 1935, under the Paper Currency Act of 1861, the Raj was granted the monopoly of issuing notes, ending the practice of private and presidency banks. But these currencies continued to be in use till the RBI issued its own coins and notes. Interestingly, till about 50 years ago, other currencies besides the RBI’s existed in, for instance, Portuguese Goa and Hyderabad. The central bank’s first currency, issued in 1938, was a five-rupee note bearing the portrait of King George VI. This was followed by notes of 10, 100, 1,000 and, yes, 10,000 rupees. In the subsequent years, global developments, security concerns and the high cost of minting money led to many changes in the motif and the material of the currency. In 1940, the one-rupee note was reintroduced as a wartime measure. The watermark was made more difficult to copy and the security thread was introduced in 1944 to counter high-quality forgeries of rupees by the Japanese during their assault on Burma in WW II. There is no uniformity or regularity in the change of colour, security features or pattern. “It isn’t wise to change the design and features frequently as it inconveniences people. At the same time, to prevent forgeries, we can’t keep it constant,” says Alpana Killawala, the RBI’s chief general manager. The George VI series continued till 1947. After Independence, a new design one-rupee coin was released in 1949. After careful consideration, King George VI’s portrait was replaced by Asoka’s Lion Capital, though a portrait of Mahatma Gandhi was initially considered but rejected. In 1960, the Hirakud dam, a symbol of India’s industrialisation, replaced the elephant motif on the Rs 100 note. During the first decade of Independence, the rupee was divided into 16 annas. Each anna was subdivided into either four pices or 12 pies. The Anna Series, introduced on January 26, 1950, was the first coinage of the Republic of India. It was continued for seven years, and then replaced with the decimal system, which divided the rupee into 100 naya paise. High inflation led to change in the metal for coins—from silver to nickel to aluminium to steel. Similarly, the paper currency has undergone a sea change—the economic crisis of the late 1960s led to a reduction in the size of notes and fears of black money in circulation led to the cancellation of high denomination notes like the Rs 1,000, the Rs 5,000 and the Rs 10,000 in 1978. But in 2000, the Rs 1,000 series were reintroduced with optically variable ink that changes colour on tilting. Given that the lifespan of a currency note is generally only two years, many of the paper currencies, such as the Rs 1 and Rs 2 notes, have now been phased out. The five-rupee note is due to be phased out too. The coins and notes of today are all part of the Mahatma Gandhi series that came into use in 1996. The currency notes have complex watermarks, windowed security thread, a latent image of Gandhi and intaglio features for the visually handicapped. Further enhancements in 2005-06 raised intaglio printing and widened the security thread. As Mint Road Milestones continues its southward journey from Delhi to Mumbai and further down, one thing’s for certain. The lure of this must-see history of the rupee will be difficult to resist.

The Outlook

Obituary

1. Shri,V.Sreenivasan, who retired as DGM from DBOD, Mumbai in 1995 passed away due to cardiac arrest on September 27, 2011. He was 76 years old and had worked in RBI for 42 years and in different departments. He was a very popular officer and had a wide circle of friends and admirers. His wife had pre-deceased him. He is survived by his three sons and grandchildren.

2. Shri.P.B.Arole passed away on September 17,2011. He retired from DBOD and was 72 years old. He had worked in RBI for over 35 years and had a long stint in the Secretary's Department. He was ever-smiling and helpful. He leaves behind his wife and three children.

We pray that the souls of these two good persons rest in peace.

As reported by P.P.Ramachandran (via e-mail)

May we help you? - Why the RBI is sticking to repo rate hikes

Have you, like some of our readers, been baffled at why the Reserve Bank of India seems to be using only the repo rate to combat inflation? The RBI has been trying to counter inflation by raising interest rates, increasing interest costs for borrowers and providing savers an incentive. A lower demand for loans with lower consumption due to higher savings would moderate demand, and prices. The RBI has historically used Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR), Market Stabilisation Scheme (MSS) and the repo rate to keep tabs on inflation. However, from first half of 2010, RBI has only used the repo rate. It is only 0.75 percentage points from the peak rate witnessed in 2008. But the CRR, is still three percentage points from the September 2008 peaks. Why isn't the RBI tapping this? Let's first understand what CRR and MSS bonds are. The CRR is a reserve banks have to keep with the RBI. The CRR ratio is now 6 per cent, i.e., for every Rs 100 of deposits a bank gets, it has to maintain Rs 6 with the RBI. This CRR doesn't earn any interest. The main aim of the ratio is to reduce liquidity in the system. Given that majority of the financial savings of households and corporates go into deposits, by increasing or decreasing the reserve RBI would be able to attain its monetary policy objective. The MSS was introduced in 2004 to manage liquidity after there was an excessive capital flow from abroad. The capital flows were impacting rupee liquidity , which would have fuelled inflation, reducing the effectiveness of CRR hikes and other monetary tools. Under the MSS mechanism, RBI sells Government bonds. Until October 2008, MSS mopped up Rs 1.7 lakh crore from the system. The scheme wasn't compulsory but achieved RBI's objective.

But how is the current monetary tightening different from that which ended in September 2008?

Then and now

Until 2008, India's current account deficit was low and capital account excesses had to be kept under check. This time around, even as capital flows were coming in, the current account deficit was high which was compensating the for excess capital flow. These two factors neutralised exchange rate. Therefore, RBI didn't use MSS bonds this time. Coming to CRR, it is not that RBI hasn't used it in the current monetary tightening. Till April 2010, RBI had increased the CRR requirement to 6 per cent from 4 per cent. It didn't aggressively pursue this tool as the liquidity situation had deteriorated significantly. Banks, which were sitting on excess deposits, didn't raise rates for a long time, leading to households diverting these funds to other sources. Additionally, Government and private borrowing shot up resulting in a liquidity deficit scenario. Even though the CRR wasn't hiked to previous peaks, the liquidity deficit was more than RBI's target. A liquidity deficit situation arises when deposits aren't sufficient to fund various banking operations, prompting banks to resort to borrowing from RBI and the market to fund these operations. 

HBL

RBI to charge repo rate for loans to state cooperative bank

KOLKATA: The Reserve Bank of India has decided to link the interest rate on loans and advances given to state coopoerative banks for general banking facilities like clearing adjustments or liquidity with the repo rate from October 1. Till date, state cooperative banks used to get this facility at bank rate, which was at one point considered as the benchmark rate. But the banking regulator has over a period of time made repo rate acceptable as the benchmark short term policy rate and this latest decision is a stap to this endeavour. At present, the repo rate stands at 8.25% while the bank rate has been at 6% for quite some time. In effect, state cooperative banks have to pay 225 basis points more interest for availing themselves of the facility.

ET

Rupees run dry

Bhutan : With rupee borrowings to pay for imports from India having reached a staggering INR 10B, and its demand by the Bhutanese economy showing no signs of slowing down, the central bank is doing what it can to address the problem – borrowing more rupees. Central bank officials are negotiating with India’s central bank, the Reserve Bank of India, to borrow from them. The interest rates would be relatively cheaper than the State Bank of India line of credit. According to an official, it is expected to be around 6.2 percent. SBI charges an interest of 10 percent. It is five percent from a credit facility extended by the government of India (GoI), which has a limit of INR 3B. “The initial plan was that RBI will lend in dollars but, due to the rising demand for rupee, we requested them to lend us in rupee, which they’ve agreed to,” the official said.  This will be the third line of credit for Bhutan to borrow rupee. Other option to meet the demand for rupee is to enhance the limit from the SBI line of credit by INR 2 to 3B.  The official from RMA said the limit has already been exhausted at INR 7B. While no more can be borrowed, there is a rising demand for rupee within the economy. Domestic banks have not been able to meet the demand with its reserve exhausted.  RMA will be sending a letter to the State Bank of India today, requesting them to enhance the limit. All the local banks have been requesting the central bank for rupees, which RMA has not been able to provide. The Bhutan National Bank’s chief executive officer, Kipchu Tshering, said their accounts in India have exhausted and reached almost negative now. “We have to send back most of our customers, who come to the bank looking to exchange ngultrums with rupees,” he said. While there is a 400,000 limit an individual on exchanging ngultrum with rupee, there is no restriction on drafts and letters of credit.  The rupee, which the banks get from RMA, is maintained with Indian banks by the local banks.“The situation is getting worse and there seems to be no solution,” he said. The situation is similar with the rest of the banks. T-bank’s balance in their accounts in Indian Axis bank has reached only INR 10M, while Druk PNB’s balance has reached around INR 2 to 3M.  Bank of Bhutan’s chief executive officer, Passang Tshering, said that they were in a slightly better position but, in recent times, it has received complaints of rupee shortages from its customers.  While there has been increasing rupee deficit, the economy’s foreign exchange reserve has been growing. Although figures were not available, central bank officials said, forex reserve (dollar) has been increasing as of now.  In the 2009-10 fiscal year, convertible currency reserves increased to 838M from 759M in the previous fiscal, according to the RMA annual report.  Against the backdrop of rupee crisis and increasing foreign exchange reserve, Bhutanese economists suggests selling dollars in the Indian market for rupee. An economist said since rupee is more important than dollar, given the volume of trade with India, selling USD in the Indian market could address the issue for some time. “Moreover, the dollar has gone up to INR 49 to 50 a dollar, which would mean higher returns,” he said. For example selling USD 200M in the Indian market could fetch Nu 9.8B, which is almost equivalent to the rupee deficit of INR 10B. But then the constitution mandates 12 months of import expenditure from the foreign exchange reserves, and RMA officials said selling dollars in the Indian market would provide only temporary relief.  In most developing economies, the constitution mandates only five to six months of import expenditure from foreign exchange reserves, according to another economists. 

http://www.kuenselonline.com/2010/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=20973

What drove, and who wins from, rupee's fall

...Yes, it is the season where the rupee has developed slippery feet and has ‘depreciated' against the dollar. In other words, while the exchange rate of the dollar vis-à-vis the rupee was at 44-45 levels just a little while back, it is now at over 49 levels. This has caught many investors off-guard....

Read..............

Patients' charter of rights in the offing

Read....... 

The NHRDA will be linked to the ministry of health and family welfare. It will be an autonomous body - similar to the office of RBI Governor - and will have statutory powers to regulate the healthcare sector.....

Poor Muslims can’t bank on APSMFC

Moreover, the banks have been reluctant to step up sanction and disbursement of loans to the minorities, virtually ignoring the RBI's repeated directives to them to ensure 15 percent credit flow of all the priority sector lending (PSL) to these sections......

Read...... 

Doctor shoots down burglar

....Residents of the colony caught Murali’s associate, Shiva, after a chase. Investigation revealed that the two had struck at the residence of former RBI Governor, Y.V. Reddy, four days ago, in Jubilee Hills.....

Read.............

RBI meet on currency management held

PATNA: The 19th high-powered meeting of the standing committee on currency management for Bihar was held at the Reserve Bank of India, Patna, on Thursday to discuss issues relating to implementation of clean note policy, customer services, and availability and retail distribution of notes and coins. The meeting also deliberated on detection-impounding-reporting of fake Indian currency notes, security arrangement at the currency chests and movement of treasure among the banks across the state. RBI Regional Director for Bihar and Jharkhand Mohit Kumar Singh chaired the meeting attended by IG, CID, Praveen Vashishtha, other police officials and senior railway officials, BSNL and department of posts and controlling heads of major banks, an RBI release said.
TOI

Credit, debit card complaints dip 26% in AP

Credit card and debit card-related complaints in Andhra Pradesh have come down to 26 per cent this year, from 38 per cent last year, according to a report on the working of the Banking Ombudsman Scheme in AP for the year 2010-11. “The claims were related to the charges, finances and disputed transactions,” M Sebastian, Banking Ombudsman (AP), Reserve Bank of India, told mediapersons here on Friday. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI)’s ombudsman scheme (2006) provides a forum to bank customers for expeditious and inexpensive resolution of complaints relating to deficiency in specified banking services. The state has received a total of 5,012 complaints this year through the banking ombudsman, as against 5,622 complaints received last year. The inflow of the complaints moderated during the year after persistent surge during the previous two years, he said. Of the total, complaints relating to loans and advances accounted for 15.22 per cent, while complaints relating to delay in disbursement of railways and defence services pension formed 11.41 per cent. The number of complaints from metropolitan areas constituted 44.03 per cent of the total complaints, followed by urban areas at 26.12 per cent, semi-urban areas at 18.6 per cent and rural areas at 11.79 per cent. “More than 30 per cent of the complaints are from rural and semi-urban areas, whereas the volume of bank transactions was more in metropolitan cities. We are putting our efforts in taking the ombudsman scheme to the remotest of villages to reach the customers,” he said. The RBI has a CTS system to help the customers in filing online complaints. The banks have taken initiatives and made arrangements to reduce the grievances. Of the total complaints, around 61.25 per cent of them had been settled, Sebastian said.

BS

Over 95% home loans are floating: RBI

With floating interest rates encompassing over 95 per cent of home loans, the Reserve Bank appointed banking ombudsman has been receiving a number of complaints from borrowers on the mounting credit risks as a result of increasing interest rates. The Reserve Bank of India, taking cognisance of the situation, is likely to instruct banks to not recover pre-payment charges on floating rate home loans and has asked the Indian Banks Association (IBA) to suggest measures that can be taken to address the issue. “Only 2-3 per cent of the loans are fixed rate loans today. Even though interest risk is managed by banks, the risk is ultimately forced on the customer in a rising interest rate scenario,” Rajeshwar Rao, Chief General Manager, RBI and Banking Ombudsman New Delhi area said on Tuesday. Floating rate loans pass on the interest rate risk from banks which are much better placed to manage it to borrowers and thus banks only substitute interest rate risk with potential credit risk.  If a decision on this comes through it will be for both own source funds and borrowed source funds of banks.  The IBA has sought time to respond and is expected to give its view by month end.  Towards providing relief to customers facing problems with credit card transactions, the RBI has asked the ombudsman to place the onus of proving customer negligence on the banks and also to compensate the customers for losses arising out of unauthorised transactions. Some of the other measures being taken under the banking ombudsman scheme of the RBI include providing compensation of up to Rs 1 lakh for mental harassment due to inflated or wrongly computed credit card bills by banks. However, clear guidelines on this are yet to emerge on account of the subjectivity of the matter and the RBI and IBA are both working on it. According to data released by the RBI for the Delhi region (including New Delhi, Ghaziabad, Noida, Jammu & Kashmir and Haryana), over 10,500 complaints have been registered between July 2010 and July 2011. Maximum number of complaints in the region relate to the State Bank of India followed by ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank that are the three major banks operating in this region, said Rao. “Majority of the complaints (32 per cent) were credit card related issues. Deposit account were 18 per cent and remittance glitches 9 per cent,” said Rao.

ExpressIndia

MFIN's initiative in reviving microfinance sector

The micro finance sector has started witnessing some positive developments after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) allowed the continuance of priority sector lending (PSL) status for bank loans to micro finance institutions in May this year providing a clear sense of direction to the sector. The regulatory framework outlined in the draft micro finance bill released to the public in July, which is likely to be introduced during the winter session of Parliament, would help faster recovery of the sector, according to Alok Prasad, Chief Executive, Micro Finance Institutions Network (MFIN). In an interaction with this correspondent, Mr. Alok Prasad said only in Andhra Pradesh there was no activity in lending and repayment and in other States there was significant recovery, following a number of measures announced by the Malegam Committee. He said MFIN was the premier industry association engaged in an intensive process of dialogue with the RBI for providing additional inputs and clarifications from time to time. After the crisis in Andhra Pradesh, several measures have been announced to improve the condition of the microfinance industry and the only new regulation in place since the Andhra Pradesh Government's ordinance in October last year was the circular issued by the RBI in May this year. Mr. Alok Prasad said many microfinance organisations especially in Andhra Pradesh have adopted corporate debt restructuring (CDR) to restructure their bank loans. MFIN was in discussion with the state government and was hopeful of reviving the microfinance activity in the state, he said. According to him there would be consolidation in the industry through mergers as smaller microfinance institutions were finding it difficult to go alone due to regulatory caps on margins and the prevailing high interest rates. As for the initiatives taken by MFIN, Mr. Alok Prasad said the organisation would work closely with the regulators and other key stakeholders to achieve larger financial inclusion goals through microfinance. MFIN has formulated and implemented a well-defined code of conduct for its members numbering 49 through an intensive process of consultation with them and other stake holders.

HBL

Kerala becomes first ‘total banking State'

Kerala was declared the first State in the country to achieve total financial inclusion. The achievement means that each household in the State has at least one bank account and the facility for need-based credit. At a meeting of bankers here on Friday, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy distributed certificates to the banks that had participated in a drive to take banking services to every corner of the State. Mr. Chandy said banks had a lot more to do for the State and its people. Lending to the agriculture sector should go up from the present 22 per cent of the total lending to priority sector (Reserve Bank of India's norm is 18 per cent).  The lending classified as lending to agriculture included the loans to the plantation sector that absorbed large credit. The other areas of farm sector could do with more credit support than at present. The Chief Minister drew the banks' attention to the need for extending credit support to the Clean Kerala Mission, a programme to make the State live up to its nickname of ‘God's Own Country.' Growth in sectors such as tourism and healthcare could be further accelerated with the help of banks. Banks could also think of schemes to encourage institutions of excellence in education.  He said there was no reason why Kerala could not achieve a double-digit growth rate. S. Raman, Chairman and Managing Director of Canara Bank, in his capacity as the convener of the State Level Bankers' Committee (SLBC), said at the meeting that Palakkad district had become the first district in the country to achieve total financial inclusion four years ago. Among others, Minister for Rural Development K.C. Joseph; Regional Director of RBI Suma Varma; Chief Secretary P. Prabhakaran; Executive Director of Canara Bank Archna S. Bhargava also addressed the function.

HBL

'Suit'able suggestion................

U.S. Banks Listen Up, India Has Something To Say

An amazing New York Times story on the State Bank of India’s outreach efforts to India’s poor offers insight into what it looks like when a bank serves its least likely customers. Perhaps American banks could learn a thing or two.The story follows Swati Yashwant, a sort of freelance banker who helps India’s rural poor set up bank accounts with the State Bank of India, which is India’s biggest bank, and which is owned by the government. She is not an employee of the State Bank of India, but she works for commission based on the number of transactions she completes for her client bank. This system was actually set up by India’s central bank, the Reserve Bank of India, to deal with the severe lack of bank branches in the developing nation. The New York Times explains “about 70 percent of India’s population is dispersed among more than 600,000 villages [but] the entire country has only 33,500 bank branches.” Because of this, only half of all of India’s households have bank accounts. And presumably because so few people have accounts in rural villages, and little money to save anyway, banks are hesitant to open branches. The Reserve Bank, according to the Times, assigns certain villages to certain banks, and ordered banks to serve them. So their low-cost solution to this mandate is to hire “business correspondents,” armed only with laptops, fingerprint scanners, and wireless modems, to expand their banking services to the country’s poor. As a result of the poverty in rural India, the account balances are minuscule by our standards: on average 160 rupees, or about $3.30. That’s paltry, but keep in mind that the going rate for a savings account in India is 4%. In five years that account will be worth $4. Can you imagine savings rates like that in the States?  The article closes on an interesting note. State Bank claims they lose money on most of the accounts people like Swati open, but that they see it as a “social obligation,” which might become profitable in the coming years. Now the United States is nowhere near as poor as India. And only 7% of our population — or 21 million — are unbanked, compared to 500 billion in India. Poverty and banking are quite different here and in India. But just as striking are the differences between bankers’ attitudes towards the poor, and towards their social mission. Namely, Indian bankers who work at big banks think they have a social mission, and can think in the long term to make their social mission profitable. Big American bankers, save for their low- or no-interest lending to CDFIs, don’t seem to feel similarly compelled. 

http://www.mybanktracker.com/bank-news/2011/09/30/state-bank-of-india-reaches-out-to-an-unlikely-demographic/

Cooperative leaders should introspect

While the whole world is complaining against Urban Cooperative banks style of functioning, NAFCUB Chairman H K Patil has words of encouragement for them and compares them better than commercial bank in terms of financial inclusion. Talking on the eve of Federation’s 35^th Annual General Meeting in New Delhi Mr Patil said that in the year 2010-2011 the deposits of urban cooperative banks increased at the rate of 14.8% while the advances grew at 22.4%. These figures compare well with the corresponding figures of commercial banks at 15.4% and 20.1% respectively. He said that CRAR of 91% of the Urban Cooperative Banks is more than 9%, making the sector well capitalized by and large. Mr Patil observed that NAFCUB’ s interactions with the Reserve Bank of India during the year under report had been very fruitful. As a result, RBI had issued a number of circulars, particularly to augment urban banks’ role in financial inclusion and had also made favourable policy announcements. The Report of the Malegam Committee on licensing of new Urban Cooperative Banks, constituted on the demand of NAFCUB, Shri Patil informed has been put in the public domain for comments. The Report, he said, has also made very important recommendations on the issue of Umbrella Organization for providing financial and other support to small urban cooperative banks. The Government’s approach to the sector, however, he said has remained at best indifferent. Despite repeated memorandums on the adverse impact of Direct Tax Code on Urban Cooperative Banks and even small urban cooperative credit societies, the Government has not taken cognizance of the problem that the new Tax Code would create for the sector. The sector, he said, was also worried on account of the sweeping powers proposed to be given to the Registrar of Cooperative Societies under Multi State Cooperative Societies Act Amendment Bill, without due consultation with the sector. He said that RBI has recognized the fact that urban cooperative banks have been the earliest purveyors of financial inclusion as the very foundation of cooperative credit movement was based on the concept of support to less privileged sections of society. In this context, NAFCUB, in December last, had launched a nationwide scheme for providing CBS on ASP model to small urban cooperative banks at affordable cost so that these banks are able to provide the same services to their clients as large commercial banks are providing and are able to increase their thrust towards financial inclusion. NAFCUB has also launched a Research Scheme for promoting research on Urban Cooperative Banks and to involve youth in the movement. Under this scheme Research Scholars enrolled for Ph.D/M.Phil with UGC recognized Universities are provided scholarship for their research work. He termed cooperative credit societies as very important financial intermediaries that were doing important work of providing financial services to unorganized sector and they had great potential to do more given proper support from the authorities.

http://indiancooperative.com/ncui/cooperative-leaders-should-introspect-nabard-chairman/

Kumar Mangalam Birla latest victim of credit card fraud

Whoever thought credit card scams were only limited to the regular citizens should think again. The latest to join the list of credit card fraud victims is none other than Mr. Kumar Mangalam Birla, the Chairman of the multi-billion-dollar Aditya Birla group. The leading industrialist’s card was reportedly cloned and used to make purchases worth Rs. 286,000 in Bangalore while Birla was in Mumbai. He learned of the fraudulent transactions when he received his monthly account statement. An FIR filed with the Mumbai police says that Birla's credit card was used to buy electronics items. The Mumbai Police is reportedly investigating the matter in coordination with the Bangalore Police. They are also taking help of cyber experts. Card cloning is a practice wherein all the card details are fraudulently obtained through a pager sized scanner and copied on to a counterfeit card.  In order to minimise fraud cases and ensure security of transactions, the RBI had earlier this month asked banks to implement various safety measures related to credit card and debit card usage over the next two years. The central bank directed banks to strengthen the existing payment infrastructure and future proofing system along with adoption of fraud risk management practices within a period of next 12-24 months, RBI said. 

IIFL

Remove entry bar for new banks: PMEAC

New Delhi: Even as Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is planning to issue just a couple of licences after it finalises the norms for the entry of new banks, C Rangarajan, chairman, economic advisory council to the Prime Minister, has suggested that there should be no bar on entry of new banks. “If the banking system is to remain competitive, there should be no bar on entry of new banks .” 

FE